LG 55EC9300 55-Inch OLED TV Review: Stunning Picture

Our Verdict

LG's OLED Television set comes close to perfection, thanks to gorgeous colors, stunning contrast and an intuitive smart-TV interface and remote.

For

Stunning motion picture with unbeatable contrast
OLED engineering science allows true black, unattainable on other sets
Excellent smart features based on webOS interface and "magic" remote.

Against

The curved screen tin can be distracting
Offers merely HD, not ultra Hd, resolution.

Tom'southward Guide Verdict

LG's OLED TV comes shut to perfection, thanks to gorgeous colors, stunning contrast and an intuitive smart-Tv set interface and remote.

Pros

+
Stunning picture show with unbeatable contrast
+
OLED engineering allows true black, unattainable on other sets
+
Fantabulous smart features based on webOS interface and "magic" remote.

Cons

-
The curved screen can be distracting
-
Offers just Hard disk drive, not ultra HD, resolution.

Who it's for: Discriminating viewers who want a state-of-the-art moving picture and don't heed the curved screen, or the price.

Touted for years as the next peachy jump in TV applied science, sets with organic light-emitting diode, aka OLED, panels accept long looked promising in demonstrations. LG has delivered on that hope with its 55-inch 55EC9300, which offers a truly impressive HD 1080p picture that is destined to be the object of desire for videophiles.

OLED TVs achieve loftier contrast and deep blacks considering each pixel in an OLED console tin be lit individually, without the backlight, and light leakage, of LCD screens. As a consequence, even the best 4K/UHD LCDs, such every bit the Samsung UN65HU8550F (see review) cannot friction match the brilliance and panache of the 55EC9300'due south Hard disk drive picture. Going forward, LG plans to innovate only 4K OLED sets — at much higher prices than this HD model. LG'due south 65-inch ultra Hard disk OLED 65EC9700, for example, costs an centre-popping $12,000.

Design: Thrown a Curve

The hallmark of the 55EC9300 — and many LG TVs — is its curved screen. The thought, say manufacturers, is to create a more than immediate, immersive cinemalike experience at home. However, I still discover curved screens an annoyance unless I'm sitting smack dead center in front of it, where I can feel the wraparound immersive appeal.

On the other mitt, a bend is less likely to be distracting on an OLED screen, because an OLED's picture does not deteriorate equally severely with off-axis viewing compared with LCD sets (where effulgence and colors wash out the farther to the side you sit down).

Many buyers may find the curved display, the swoopy, wavelike silver stand and the razor-thin screen (0.17 inches at its narrowest point) aesthetically appealing. Others may non be able to shake the perceptible distortion at the edges of the screen, which looks preternaturally wide, while the center of the screen appears to be concave. This is definitely a gear up shoppers should see earlier buying.

The back of the LG 55EC9300 has the usual RF component, and composite-video inputs, besides equally 4 HDMI ports, three USB ports, optical audio out and an Ethernet port. There'south built-in Wi-Fi support (802.11a/b/k/north/ac).

Interface: In the Palm of Your Hand

Making all the various features of continued smart TVs accessible and easy to navigate is no small feat, but LG does then with its webOS operating system in the 55EC9300. Snazzy on-screen icons are large enough to brand their functions obvious from beyond a living room, with a pink flying teardrop cursor to highlight items and make selections. In general, the software was snappy and responsive, and I liked the way I could flip through the primary menu, with its angled tabs, along the bottom of the screen.

More: All-time TVs You Can Buy Right At present

The main home screen is logically laid out, with the electric current input at the top left and a settings cog icon top right. On the left side, a habitation button invokes a quick settings listing that includes network, sound and film adjustments. A row of angled tabs appears along the bottom of the screen, with recently accessed inputs, sites and apps such as Netflix, Skype, Amazon and Vudu. LG has its ain expanding app shop to support the webOS interface, which the company says will be supported beyond its unabridged line.

Remote: Well-nigh Magic

LG calls its smart remote control a Magic Remote. That may be a bit hyperbolic, but it is pretty darn good.

The egg-shaped compact remote acts similar a wireless mouse that yous wave in the air to direct an on-screen cursor. After a couple of turns, I found information technology completely comfortable, requiring less endeavour than trying to detect menus and settings with a four-way toggle and multiple buttons on a conventional remote. The air mouse as well works neatly with the webOS interface. For example, when you click on the settings icon, you lot get the options related specifically to your electric current input, rather than having to navigate through boosted menus to get at that place.

Prototype Quality: Brilliant and Beautiful

LG'southward implementation of OLED technology is unique in that it uses the iii traditional color elements — red, green and blue — in each pixel, plus a fourth white pixel. That pattern allows information technology to underscore some of the technology'southward strengths, and the principal of those is contrast ratio.

MORE: LG Defends OLED TVs' Future

When I watched a Blu-ray re-create of Gravity, stars were unwavering points of light confronting the deep blackness of space. And where even ultra HD LCD sets can bleed light and create faint halos around bright objects on the screen, the LG OLED delivered clean, sharp lines without whatsoever blooming or blurring. Our contrast ratio measurements matched our subjective impressions with by far the highest number we've seen.

Colors were also quite accurate. At that place was no overemphasis of red to falsely warm upwards the picture, for example. Conversely, other shades did not suffer from a lack of saturation. Colors looked realistic, from the gunmetal gray of the State Rover in the Blu-ray of Skyfall to the yellow taxicabs on Istanbul's streets, and blood looked blood carmine. Colorful market scenes also greatly benefited from the vibrant OLED reproduction.

I also found that the LG OLED set generated very little motion baloney or artifacts in fast chase scenes that had a lot of challenging groundwork detail. Shards of flying glass from scenes in Skyfall looked crystal clear and sharp, fifty-fifty compared with an ultra HD picture on an LED-LCD TV such as the Samsung UN65HU8550F (run into review).

Furthermore, the LG 55EC9300 handled a variety of program sources and resolutions with aplomb. A DVD of Skyfall, for example, looked remarkably good upscaled. There were no obvious artifacts, and even the moiré patterns you're probable to run across in a herringbone suit or the jagged edges of angled lines — such every bit a door frame or windowsill — were kept to a minimum. The same could be said for 1080p HD streaming movies on Netflix, such as Catching Burn down, and a football game game recorded in 720p, which the TV ably upconverted to 1080p.

One additional aspect of this OLED Boob tube was particularly noteworthy: screen uniformity. Nearly televisions have slight hotspots or flares in their pictures that more often than not indicate inconsistent backlighting. LG'south 55EC9300 has no such weakness. Colors were solid across the screen, whether it was showing a articulate blueish sky or moonless dark.

Audio Quality: Downward to Globe

While the LG 55EC9300'due south picture may be exquisite, the sound is nothing exceptional. Playing movie soundtracks, information technology produced enough volume to draw complaints from neighbors. However, the audio feels cramped and focused under the heart of the screen On the Skyfall soundtrack, Adele sounded like an American Idol contestant covering an Adele vocal, with much of her dynamic range squashed and the lower registers attenuated. Switching to the set's ultrasound mode and adjusting the built-in equalizer gave music a more open up, wider feel, but ultimately couldn't eliminate the claustrophobic feeling. Every bit usual, if you invest in a high-end Goggle box, you should also invest in a soundbar or environment-sound organisation to get the full experience.

MORE: Best Soundbars

Burning Questions

Because how relatively new OLED technology is in big displays, a nagging question remains about how susceptible OLED sets are to burn-in — the residual image left on a screen after a static motion-picture show has been displayed for too long. The materials used to create the individual subpixels accept been considered more sensitive to such damage than those of LCDs. Indeed, manufacturers warn OLED owners not to brandish a static image (like your Netflix queue) for longer than an hr and to avert one-time standard-definition 4:3 programs, because they are displayed with vertical black bars on the sides.

On the other hand, most LCD owners' manuals have similar warnings. We haven't had the opportunity to torture test an OLED set to see if we could intentionally fire in an image, and information technology may exist the instance that some sets become more than sensitive to such effects as they age. Time will tell. But meanwhile, nosotros recommend that you follow the manufacturer's guidelines to protect your big investment.

Lesser Line

Years spent squinting at screens and test results can jaundice any critical heart. Simply the LG 55EC9300 OLED set is a revelation. Its crystal-clear prototype and impressive contrast range will win over many viewers, fifty-fifty those who plow up their nose at the curved screen. The price is also right for this 55-inch set, considering that top-of-the-line LCDs price as much and that slightly larger OLEDs are oft three times the price. For at present, the LG 55EC9300 sits in the sweet spot for buyers looking for the ultimate picture — until ultra HD OLEDs come down into the $iii,000 range.

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John R. Quain has been reviewing and testing video and audio equipment for more than twenty years. For Tom'due south Guide, he has reviewed televisions, HDTV antennas, electric bikes, electric cars, as well as other outdoor equipment. He is currently a contributor to The New York Times and the CBS News television receiver program.